reporter:
How much is Samkon going to be missed, as far as the intangibles, and the attitude he brought to the lockerroom?

Sounds like Ted is answering a different question.
Thompson:
Uh, outstanding, he came up and talked to alot of the people upstairs, and he, he has a very infectious personality. I've never seen him without a smile on his face.

This is classic:

reporter:
What experience does he(Morency) have with the zone scheme?

Thompson:
Well, I don't know. I'm assuming they ran something similar in the Houston Texans offense. I'm assuming Gary put that in, there. I watched tape on it, but quite frankly I can't tell the difference between the zone, and everything else.

In fairness to TT, he's not a press secretary, he's the GM of a football team so I don't expect him to be that eloquent. That being said, how he can answer so many pertinent questions with the phrase "I don't know" is beyond me.

He explained the Jackson/Pittman choice, after 36 hours of talking on the phone, working the draft board, and dealing with overreactive fans and press who wanted flash. I'm amused by his handling of the media. Green Bay media was somewhat ridiculous the past few days. Some of those reporters should be ashamed.

Here's a couple I got a kick out of from his press conference after picking Harrell.

(What kind of a person is this guy?)
You guys will like him. He's from a small town. I don't really know what town that is. Who knows where Chad Clifton is from? Wherever that is. Martin? Tennessee? Never heard of it.

(Did you interview him at the Combine, one of your 60 interviews?)
I say we did, I'm not sure. I know we talked to him, because there's alternate times you can grab guys talk to them too.

"[Harrell] is a good citizen and a good man, which is what I told the people out on the atrium – who booed me, by the way," said Thompson, whose philosophy is to take the best player available. "I told the people out there – when I was trying to get them to quit booing me – I think he has the potential to have been a single-digit pick."

It was a predictable reaction. Even in today's NFL environment, selling "good citizen," "good man" and "potential" to a draft mob is like suggesting that a starving man eat the parsley off a plate of filet mignon.

A leader of any organization or company must be a good communicator and a salesman.
If a leader can't sell his organization to prospective employees and can't sell changes necessary to the organization to the employees and the investors, that person is doomed to failure.

you guys are mistaking Ted not selling the fans and media. for him not selling anybody.

hes obviously sold Brett Favre to come back, sold the brass to keep him on another year. hes selling who he needs to sell. otherwise, the fans and media need not know. all hes really doing is making the media and forum junkies jobs easier. we get to play around and speculate and dabble with lineups until the real deal is unveiled. so be thankful.

you guys are mistaking Ted not selling the fans and media. for him not selling anybody.

hes obviously sold Brett Favre to come back, sold the brass to keep him on another year. hes selling who he needs to sell. otherwise, the fans and media need not know. all hes really doing is making the media and forum junkies jobs easier. we get to play around and speculate and dabble with lineups until the real deal is unveiled. so be thankful.

Click to expand...

I agree Pacnic.
Who cares if the guy doesn't really want to deal with all the "journalists"? To me, what matters is how good the players he picks turn out on the field.

LOL... when the the league expand to 50? Are we sure Forrest Gump isn't in control?

"I couldn't tell you (why it fell apart)," Thompson said shortly after Sunday's draft concluded. "I'm not going to talk too much on that. We talk to 50 different teams about different trades, different players, different draft choices. I just found out this morning on the news, maybe like you guys did, that he was going to New England."

Reporter: Did you expect that Harrell might struggle (the way he has thus far)?

TT: ... We knew when we drafted him, we'd probably sit on him a little bit just to make sure Pat (McKenzie) had a very good feeling where he was rehabilitedive-wise ... and his rehib *Ted pauses* re-hab, reHAB, that's it!.. *TT looks so pleased after sounding out 'rehab'*.

I kid you not, Ted actually said "rehabilitedive-wise", and then looked like a kid on X-mas morning after sounding out 'rehab'. :rotflmao: